Pope Leo XIV accepted the resignation of Bishop José Antonio Canales Motiño, first bishop of the Diocese of Danlí (Honduras), on the border with Nicaragua, a prelate who has been close to the Church that suffers persecution from the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo.
“The Holy Father has accepted the resignation from the pastoral government of the Diocese of Danlí (Honduras), presented by Bishop José Antonio Canales Motiño,” the Press Office of the Vaticanwithout giving further details.
Receive the main news from ACI Prensa by WhatsApp and Telegram
It is increasingly difficult to see Catholic news on social media. Subscribe to our free channels today:
The bishop is 63 years old, twelve years less than the 75 that the Code of Canon Law establishes for the mandatory resignation of bishops.
On his social networks, the bishop specified that Pope León has appointed Mons. Teodoro Gómez Rivera, Bishop of Choluteca, as Apostolic Administrator of Danlí, while that see is vacant.
In a statement published on his account FacebookBishop Canales states that he submitted his resignation because “severe physical and mental exhaustion prevents me from continuing. After a sufficient time of recovery, the Lord will tell how I can serve him.”
After thanking the priests, catechists, nuns; and after humbly asking for forgiveness from those who may have offended, the prelate says goodbye with a “strong hug to everyone in Christ Jesus and Mary Immaculate.”
Father Erick Díaz, a Nicaraguan priest exiled in Chicago (United States), published on Facebook a thank you to the now Bishop Emeritus of Danlí, whom he called a “pastor after God’s heart”.
“Monsignor Canales has been a close, simple and deeply human pastor, who always knew how to be on the side of his people. His voice was raised in difficult moments, especially in defense of the Church and the people of Nicaragua, praying and bravely demanding the release of Monsignor Rolando Álvarez,” said the priest.
In May 2024, a few months after the exile of Bishop Álvarez, Bishop of Matagalpa and Apostolic Administrator of Estelí, Bishop Canales met his friend in Rome and said that he contacted him “and other Nicaraguan priests to talk and encourage them.”
The Honduran bishop explained that day that Bishop Álvarez was in “a period of personal silence. Nobody has imposed it on him, it is his personal decision to have time for himself, to reflect on his life, but everything is fine.”
José Antonio Canales Motiño is a Honduran bishop, now emeritus, born on March 19, 1962. Before entering the seminary, he obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Law and Social Sciences from the San Pedro Sula Private University.
His priestly training was completed at the “Our Lady of Suyapa” Major Seminary in Tegucigalpa and then he obtained a Licentiate in Moral Theology at the Pontifical University of Mexico.
He was ordained a priest on October 12, 1996.
He was parish priest of Our Lady of Suyapa in Choloma, of Our Lady of Guadalupe in San Pedro Sula and, since 2015, parish priest of the San Pedro Apóstol cathedral in the same city.
He was named the first Bishop of Danlí in 2017.
Walter Sánchez Silva
I have been a husband since 2008. My wife and I have three children here and one who went to heaven in 2023, before he was born. Since I joined ACI Prensa in 2005, I have had the opportunity to cover various events of the Catholic Church. Among them, the World Youth Days in Cologne, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro and the apostolic trips of Pope Benedict XVI to Mexico and of Pope Francis to South Korea. I have been sent to the Vatican to cover the Family synods, in 2015; of the Amazon, in 2019 and that of Synodality, in 2023. I closely follow the situation of the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, which suffers persecution from the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega, as well as current ecclesiastical events in the region.